Let's turn back to Daniel chapter
9 verse 24. Daniel the 9th chapter verse
24. The title of my message is identifying
the Messiah. Is it possible to look in the
book of God and clearly identify the Christ of God? We are warned
repeatedly, repeatedly, we are warned to beware of false prophets
and false Christ, a false gospel, another Jesus, another spirit. How then can we clearly, with
absolute certainty, identify the true Christ from all pretenders
and all that men make to be pretenders of the Christ of God? Is it possible
to identify the Messiah with absolute certainty? If you look
carefully at our text this evening, in this one single verse of scripture,
God, the Holy Spirit shows us exactly how to identify Messiah,
the Prince, how to identify God's Christ. How to identify him who
fulfills all the prophets in the scriptures. Here are six
things by which the Lord God gives his prophet Daniel a word
of inspiration, identifying the Messiah. Daniel 9 verse 24. Here are six things Jehovah's
righteous servant, God's Messiah must perform. Must perform. If he, you call the Christ, has
not performed these six things, he is not the Christ. If he has
not accomplished these six things, he is not the Christ. If he has,
he is the Christ of God. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. You remember Daniel
began this chapter by telling us that he had by divine instruction,
calculated the number of the years that Jeremiah the prophet
had spoken and said, now God's accomplished his purpose. The
70 years of captivity are over. And then the Lord gave Daniel
a vision of 70 weeks, 70 weeks of years from the time that Babylon's
captivity ended and to the time that he would destroy Jerusalem
when the Christ, the Messiah would come. And this is what
he'll accomplish. To finish the transgression,
number one. To make an end of sins, number
two. To make reconciliation for iniquity,
number three. To bring in everlasting righteousness,
number four. To seal up the vision and prophecy,
number five. And number six, to anoint the
most holy. These are the things the Messiah
accomplished. He has finished the transgression.
He has made an end of sins. He has made reconciliation for
iniquity. He has brought in everlasting
righteousness. He has sealed up the vision and
the prophecy. And he has anointed the most
holy. Now with that in mind, let's
go back again tonight and look at the prophecy of Daniel, beginning
in chapter 3, and we'll come up to this passage. Back in the
third chapter of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar cast Daniel's three companions,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the burning and fiery furnace.
You'll remember Nebuchadnezzar had made a huge image of gold
and commanded all the people of the land at a given signal
to fall down before his image and worship. Anyone who refused
to fall down before this great image that Nebuchadnezzar had
made this mighty rich gorgeous lavish God Nebuchadnezzar had
made he would be cast into the burning and fiery furnace Well
Shadrach Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down and worship
Nebuchadnezzar's image and Nebuchadnezzar was angry and He was infuriated,
he gave them another opportunity, said, now bow down and worship
my image when the sound is given and it'll be all right. And Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego said, King, we don't have to have a business
meeting about this. We're not going to do it. We're not going
to bow down and worship your image, whether we're thrown in
the furnace or not, whether God delivers us or not, we will not
worship your image. Nebuchadnezzar was enraged, and
he had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego cast into the burning
and fiery furnace. The furnace was heated seven
times hotter than it was normally made to burn, and Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego were taken by the strongest, biggest men in the
realm and cast into this furnace of such intense heat that the
men who threw them into the furnace were burned to death by the heat.
Now let's pick up in verse 23 of Daniel 3. And these three
men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down into the midst of the
burning, fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king
was astonished. and rose up in haste and spake
and said unto the counselors, did not we cast three men bound
into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the
king, true, O king, that's exactly what we did. He answered and
said, lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire,
and they have no hurt. And the form of the fourth is
like unto the Son of God. I have no idea how he knew that. But that's what God the Spirit
tells us Nebuchadnezzar knew. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near
to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spake and said, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High God, Come forth
and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
came forth out of the midst of the fire, and the princes, governors,
and captains, and the king's counselors, being gathered together,
saw these men. Can you imagine what must be
going through their minds when they saw Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego walk out of that fiery furnace, loose and no smell upon
them, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, upon whose bodies
the fire had no power, no power, nor was an hair of the head singed,
neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed
on them. What an astounding statement.
These fellows are cast into a furnace, heated so hot that it consumed
the men who threw them into the fire. They're thrown in with
their stockings and their coats on, tied hand and foot, and they're
seen walking in the fire with God the Son in the midst of them. They walk out of the fire and
their hair is not even singed. They didn't even smell like they'd
been smoking, let alone in the furnace. They had no hurt by
the fire. Read on, verse 28. Then Nebuchadnezzar
spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, who hath sent his angel, this one who has the form of
the Son of God. The Lord Jesus is the angel of
the covenant. Michael, the archangel who stands
by and defends Joshua as our mediator. Gabriel, the one who
speaks to Daniel in this chapter, the mighty angel of our God is
the Lord Jesus, our savior, not a created angel, God's special
messenger by whom God makes himself known to men. He has sent his
angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him. and have
changed the king's word. He changed the king's word. The
king makes a law. It can't be changed, but God
can change the king's law. The king ordered Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego to be executed in the burning fiery furnace, but
God ordered the burning fiery furnace to do them no harm, but
only good. But what good came of this? The
only thing that happened while Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
were in the burning fiery furnace was the Son of God visited them.
And the cords that bound them were burned from them. The fire
had no effect of evil upon them, but only good. And yielded their
bodies that they might not serve nor worship any God except their
own God. Verse 29. Therefore I make a
decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything
amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be
cut in pieces and their houses shall be made a dunghill. Because,
now watch this, there is no other God that can deliver after this
sort. There's not another God who does
such things as this. Not another God who saves his
people like this. Not another God who delivers
men like this. Then the king promoted Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego in the prophets of Babylon. As I read
this chapter, I see a beautiful, clear, instructive picture of
God's great salvation. the salvation of poor sinners
like you and me by Jesus Christ our Lord, our great Savior, in
whom the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines into
our souls in the revelation of his grace. What a picture Nebuchadnezzar
gives of our God. He says there is no other God
that can save after this sort. This is how God saves sinners.
This is how God saves his people. This is how he saves Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. And if he saves you by his grace,
this is how he'll save you. He became one of us. Here, the
son of God stands in the furnace, walking around as a man with
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And it became him. to be made
one of us, to take on himself our nature, to become a child
of Adam without Adam's nature, a man, a real man, born of a
woman, made under the law that he might redeem those who are
under the law. Our Lord Jesus suffered all the fury and fire
of God's wrath with his people in the furnace of God's judgment.
The Son of God is with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in their
fiery furnace. And so it was that he who died
upon Calvary's tree suffered the wrath of God for us and suffered
the wrath of God with us. He is both our substitute and
one with us so that when he died, we can say with the apostle,
I was crucified with Christ. When God poured out his furious
wrath upon his son, he poured out his wrath upon his people.
The Lord Jesus so thoroughly saves his people from their sins
that not even the smell of hell is found upon us. This is how God saves. He so
thoroughly saves his elect that they suffer no loss even from
having sinned, but only gain. A few weeks ago, I received a
note, some fella had spoken very, how shall we say, viciously attacking
your pastor's doctrine. He says, he says, Fortner says
that even our fall was good for us. Well, it wouldn't matter
if Fortner said that. God teaches it throughout his
word. Were it not for the sin and fall of our race in Adam,
were it not for our being lost in Adam's transgression, coming
forth from our mother's womb, speaking lies, living and rebelling
with a fist shoved in God's face until God conquered us by his
grace, we could never have known God Almighty in the redeeming
work of his son for the glory of his name. You couldn't know
the Redeemer, Larry, if he had never been redeemed. You couldn't
know the Son of God had he not become the Son of Man to save
your wretched soul. You could not know God's mercy
had you not experienced his mercy. No, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
suffered no loss but only gain through the fiery furnace. And
you, children of God, Painful, shameful, heartbreaking, as our
sin is to us now. And if it's not, as you prayed
just a little bit ago, Rod, I don't know God. If sin is a trifle
to me, I don't know God. All I say is just a sham, it's
fake, it's a mockery, it's a pretense. And if sin doesn't break your
heart, I'm not talking about the sin you read about in the
paper, I'm talking about the sin you know in your heart. that doesn't
break your heart, you don't know God. But bad as that is in the
experience of it, bitter as it is in the experience of it, oh,
how sweet shall be the end. When we know Him in the perfection
of redemption accomplished and the angels stand in awe, To hear
what we had to say about what God's done for us Our God's salvation
is such That our great God attaches his name And his honor and his
glory to the salvation of his chosen in psalm 106 verse 8 The
psalmist speaks this way of God's mercy. Over and over and over
again, God delivered his people. Over and over again, God sent
judges and God delivered them. God sent judges and God delivered
them. They rebelled and God delivered them. They failed and God delivered
them. How come? This is the reason he gives.
Nevertheless, he saved them for his name's sake. Did you notice
in Daniel's prayer? as he orders his calls before
God and calls on God for mercy. He makes two things his constant
argument. And if you go through the scriptures,
when Moses prayed for the children of Israel, when Aaron interceded
for the children of Israel, throughout the scriptures, when David prayed
for the children of Israel, all the way through the scriptures,
two things are the constant plea of God's people for his people. They said, Lord, your name's
at stake, and these are your people. Your name's at stake. These are your people. You've
attached your name to them. Your name's at stake. You brought
them out of Egypt. If they perish in this wilderness,
everybody's going to say, God wasn't able to save. You've attached
your name to them. And so the Lord God says, nevertheless,
he saved them for his name's sake. In the first chapter of
Ephesians, three times over, We're told by inspiration that
God saves us to the praise of his own glory. That's the way
God saves. He saves in such a way as to
glorify himself. And then we come to the fourth
chapter of Daniel. Having this revelation of God, this great
revelation of God's glory in the deliverance of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, Nebuchadnezzar saw something of our divine substitute,
and he said, I've got to tell the whole world how God revealed
himself to me. Now, I know there's a lot of
debate among good men whether or not Nebuchadnezzar knew God.
I won't even make a guess, but I'll tell you this. I never read
a better confession of faith than Nebuchadnezzar gave. I've
never read a better one. Nebuchadnezzar said, I've got
to tell everybody how God made himself known to me. Look at
verse 1 of chapter 4. Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto
all people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth,
peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good, I thought
it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath
wrought toward me. How great are his signs! How
mighty are his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.
Now, you know the story of Nebuchadnezzar. God set out to bring him down.
God set out to lay him low. God set out to strip him bare. God set out to make Nebuchadnezzar
understand the heavens do rule. Nebuchadnezzar was king of the
greatest empire the world had ever known and he He he was something
else. He was something else God was
determined to make him know he was nothing and God's everything
and so the Lord God Took his mind from him Nebuchadnezzar
became a raving lunatic He was put out of his kingdom driven
away from society For seven years, for seven years, this mighty,
mighty king chewed grass in the field like an ox. His hair grew
like feathers on his back. This man, Nebuchadnezzar, became
an absolute raving lunatic. And then after seven years of
lunacy, God gave his mind back to him, restored him to his kingdom. He was a changed man God taught
him what all men sooner or later must learn and here's the confession
Nebuchadnezzar made Daniel 4 34 and at the end of the days I
Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven and mine understanding
returned unto me I can I can just picture Nebuchadnezzar and
He's out in the field one morning and he had just taken his breakfast
of grass and he lifts his eyes to heaven and suddenly God gave
his mind back to him. Can you imagine what must have
gone through that man? For the first time in seven years
he had a sane thought. For the first time in seven years,
he had a thought of a man. For the first time in seven years,
he lifted his eyes to heaven and this is what he said. I blessed
the most high and praised and honored him that liveth forever
and ever. I have now found out his dominion is an everlasting
dominion. His kingdom is from generation
to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth And none can stay in his hand or say unto him what doest
thou? verse 37 Now I nebuchadnezzar
You remember what he said just before he lost his mind. He said
look at this great babylon that I had built. Oh, man Man, I'm
something else. There's never been another fellow
like me ever. I'm something. Look what I've
done with my hands. Now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise
and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are
truth, and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride
he is able to abase. Sadly, Nebuchadnezzar's son,
Belshazzar, didn't believe God, and he didn't believe his father's
testimony, but he continued in his proud, sinful ways as a Babylonian
king, worshiping the works of his own hands, mocking and blaspheming
God. In chapter 5, Belshazzar is making
a feast, and he brings the gold vessels out of the house of God
that they had taken from Jews and laid up in Babylon. His father
had taken them and they had kept them in store, and he takes the
silver and the gold things and says, we're serving our gods
now, our gods who gave the Jews to us, our gods who delivered
Israel into our hands. Go get those vessels, and let's
have a drunken party with our gods and drink the wine from
the vessels of the temple of God at Jerusalem. And the handwriting
was on the wall. And Belshazzar was slaughtered
that night for his rebellion and idolatry by the hand of God. And Darius, the Dominion King,
takes over. In chapter 6, we're given another
marvelous picture of God's salvation of sinners in Christ Jesus that
we looked at this morning, Daniel's deliverance from the lion's den.
Then in chapter seven and eight, Daniel tells us of the prophetic
visions he had during the days of that wicked king of Babylon,
Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's son. So terrible were the visions
given to Daniel that he fainted. He was sick for many days. God's given him a vision. Vision
of sure things to come. Of sure judgment. And Daniel
saw the terror of God's judgment. With such reality that he felt
it in his soul. And he fainted. And it made him
sick. Literally sick for many days. Now concerning the things that
Daniel saw here, much speculation has been made. Many, many books
have been written. Hundreds, countless hundreds
of sermons have been preached. And I have a novel suggestion. This will sound strange to folks. Maybe it would be wise for us
to wait Wait until the things spoken of are accomplished. And understand the prophecy by
its accomplishment. As Peter did when he saw the
Spirit of God descend on the day of Pentecost and God baptized,
our Savior baptized his church in the Holy Spirit. Peter said,
whoa, this is what Joel was talking about. Now I understand the prophecy. I'm saying this. Don't allow
Satan to sidetrack you as you read the scriptures and take
your mind off the Redeemer and focus on other things like horns. Big horns and little horns and
horns with eyes. Oh, I wonder what that means.
I wonder what that means. And you, oh, this must be referring
to this fellow. No, this one fits it better.
No, that one fits better. Why not focus on the ancient
of days instead? Does that make sense to you?
Why speculate about things God hasn't revealed when we have
clear things spoken of God has revealed about redemption, grace
and salvation in his darling son. I'm trying to learn what
I'm preaching to you. I got a letter this week, a friend
of mine, who writes to me regularly, gets the readings, said, I read
this passage in Daniel and I was just so disturbed by it, so terribly
disturbed by it, and then I got your reading, pointed me to Christ,
and I'm so thankful for that. Maybe that's what you ought to
look for. The book is written to show you the person and work
of the Redeemer. not to gratify your idle, carnal
curiosity about things mentioned in it. I've chosen my words deliberately.
There is much mentioned in the book of God that's mentioned
by divine purpose as snares and gems with which God would trap
the unbelieving and they stumble over the stumbling block and
fall into hell rather than believe on the Son of God. I take every
inclination to Delve into mysteries unrevealed. Now, mysteries that
are revealed, that's another story. Things God's given a clear
revelation of, that's another story. But if God hasn't given
the answer, Mark, there's a reason why. He doesn't want you to know
the answer, not yet. If God hasn't shown you the meaning
of a passage, if he doesn't show it to you in the book, not just,
well, oh, I've been reading this, Brother Donovan, this is what
I think that means. It don't matter what you think
it means. Show me in the book what it means. Show me in God's
word what it means. That's what it means. And every
inclination to delve into things God hasn't revealed is but the
trick, the deceit, the lure of Satan by which he would turn
you from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. God has clearly
stated his purpose in this book. It is to reveal his son. Here in this portion of Daniel
chapter seven and eight, he speaks of the ancient of days, our Lord
Jesus and his coming and his accomplishments. And finally
his judgment and his deliverance and resurrection glory in him.
And then we come to the ninth chapter, Daniel here, Daniel
gives us his great prayer. This prayer he offered to God
for himself and the children of Israel, confessing their sins,
extolling God's greatness, God's majesty, seeking his mercy. And the man Gabriel appeared
to Daniel, assuring him of the coming of Christ and of our Savior's
great accomplishments as our mediator, the Messiah. Look at
verse 20, Daniel 9, 20. Whiles I was yet speaking and
praying, and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel,
and presenting my supplications before the Lord my God for the
holy mountain of my God, yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer,
even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning,
back in the early part of Daniel, being caused to fly swiftly,
touched me about the time of the evening oblation. Every evening
throughout the history of Israel, from the time of Moses until
the coming of our Redeemer, the children of Israel offered an
evening sacrifice at three o'clock in the afternoon. And our Lord
Jesus, that sacrifice of whom those evening sacrifices and
all the sacrifices spoke, our great Passover was sacrificed
for us upon Calvary's cursed tree at three o'clock in the
afternoon. There's great significance here.
This angel Gabriel, this man Gabriel comes to Daniel at three
o'clock in the afternoon at precisely the time ordained of God before
the world was made when Christ should die in his room instead
and in our room instead. And Daniel was praying and Gabriel
comes and he said, he said, when you started praying, God said,
go to Daniel. When you started praying, you remember in Ezekiel,
the Lord made his promise. He said, I'm going to deliver
you. I'm sending you into Babylon. I'm going to bring you out of
Babylon. You can count on it. It's dead. Sure. Certain 70 years. I'm going to bring you out of
Babylon. But for this thing, will I be salt? I'm going to
do it. I predestined it. It shall be
brought to pass, but you're going to have to pray for it. And Daniel
begins praying. And when he begins praying, God
sends Gabriel to speak to him. We don't. He informed me and
talked with me, verse 22, and said, O Daniel, I am come forth
to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications,
the commandment came forth and I am come to show thee, for thou
art greatly beloved. Therefore, understand the matter
and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity,
and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Now, let's look at these
things Daniel was told Christ would accomplish. I wouldn't
say for certain, but it appears to me clear that Gabriel was
the pre-incarnate revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, a pre-incarnate
appearance of the God-man. Nebuchadnezzar said, there's
no other God that can save after this sort. Let us learn what
Nebuchadnezzar learned. Here, the angel Gabriel, the
man Gabriel comes to Daniel and says, this is what the Messiah
shall accomplish. Christ came to Daniel, if I read
it right. And he said, Daniel, this is
what I'm going to do. This is what I'm going to do. Number
one, the Messiah, when he comes, when
he was cut off, crucified, and slain at Jerusalem in the midst
of the 70th week, he would, by the sacrifice of himself, finish
the transgression. What a statement. finish the transgression. I read those words and I hear
the Son of God cry, it is finished. Notice how he speaks. He speaks
of the transgression as though it were one. He shall finish
the transgression, the transgression of my people, all our transgressions,
all the transgressions of God's covenant people, Taken as one
and made to be his he finished the transgression. What's that
mean? the Lord Jesus When our transgression
was laid on him when he bore it in his body on the tree He
carried it away in the stream of his precious blood when he
made satisfaction for us He finished the transgression so that our
transgression is never brought up again. Transgression speaks
of deliberate, calculated, purposeful, breaking God's law. Iniquity
has the idea of inequity, not measuring up. Transgression speaks
of something else. Transgression is you're walking
and there's a fence there and the fence says keep out and you
take your foot and you kick down the sign and you take your wire
cutters and you cut the fence and you pull up the post and
you walk across the line. That's deliberate, calculated,
purposeful rebellion, the transgression. That's how men act toward God
all the time. That's what we've been doing
all our lives, breaking, violating God's law with every breath deliberately. I didn't mean to do that. Yes,
you did. Oh, yes, you did. Right? I didn't mean to steal
that. You can't steal without meaning to steal. That's not
possible. That's not possible. I didn't
mean to cheat on my wife. You can't do that without meaning
to do it. You can't do it without intending
to do it. Transgression is deliberate, willful violation of God's law. And Christ came and finished
it. He finished it so that the transgression
is gone. Gone. Number two, the Lord Jesus
came here in our flesh to make an end of sins. To abolish the sins of his people
forever. Past, present, and future. You know, John says, he was manifested
to take away our sins. And in him is no sin. I've been saying this to you
for a while and saying it with deliberate repetition. And I'm
beginning to get some sense of what I'm saying. God doesn't
play pretend. When the Lord Jesus took away
our sins, Alan, he really took them away. He put away our sins. Is that the language of scripture?
He purged our sins. Purged them. I don't know a better
way to illustrate it than I've illustrated so many times. I
wear white shirts all the time when I'm preaching. I just don't
wear anything else. It's all right for the folks who I just
don't. And sometimes I get chili on the shirt from eating hot
dogs. And you can't find any. How come? Because this dear lady
over here gets the bleach and the laundry detergent and the
hot water and she scrubs and scrubs and gets the spot remover
and scrubs some more and she has to, she'll soak them in that
special stuff and she'll scrub some more until the stain is
completely gone. Oh, hear my soul. The Son of God has removed from
me the very stain of sin. He put it away by the sacrifice
of himself. The scapegoat carry our sins
away and they are never brought up again. Turn to Psalm. Hold
your hands here, Daniel. Turn back to Psalm 32. Psalm
32. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered. Atonement has the idea of covering.
Now, some folks object to us using the terms, that's an Old
Testament term. Well, reconciliation is the same word. But here, covering
has the idea of the atonement on the mercy seat, sins covered
by the blood. But look at that word forgiven.
The word means lifted up and taken away. That's how God forgives
our sins. He lifts them up, lays them on
his Son and takes them away. Blessed is the man, David said,
to whom the Lord will not impute sin. How can it be that God in heaven
will not impute sin to Mark Henson knowing as I do your sin and
as you do your sin. How can God in justice not impute
sin to you? He lifted it up, laid it on his
son, and took it away, so that he hath not beheld iniquity in
Israel. He did it before the world was
made in Christ the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.
He did it at Calvary when the Lord Jesus the Messiah made an
end of sin. Now this is what that means.
No charge can be brought against us. No curse of the law can reach
us. No sentence of the law can be
executed upon us. No punishment can be inflicted
on us. We're entirely and completely
saved from all our sins and all the evil consequences of sin
forever. He made an end of sin. Number three, the Son of God
came here to make reconciliation for iniquity. The prophet uses every word in
the Old Testament by which God describes sin, transgression,
iniquity. The Lord Jesus, by the sacrifice
of himself, made an end of sin. He finished the transgression
and made reconciliation for iniquity, made atonement for iniquity,
made satisfaction for iniquity. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, the world of his elect, his elect scattered
through all the world, not imputing their trespasses unto them. He
imputed our trespasses to his son when his son was made to
be sin for us and having punished his son for our sins, he will
not and cannot and does not impute sin to us, but rather he's made
us the very righteousness of God in his son and imputes to
us his perfect righteousness. Number four, our dear savior
came in. I came here. to bring in everlasting
righteousness. God doesn't only require satisfaction
for sin. Satisfaction for his justice,
he requires righteousness, perfect obedience. And this we have in
Christ our Redeemer, who obeyed the law for us as our surety,
in whom we obeyed the law our covenant head and representative
both things are true Romans chapter 5 tells us that Christ was our
federal head as Adam was it also tells us we're one with Christ
Levi did a something we're told when Melchizedek came to Abraham
and Abraham gave Levi, or gave Melchizedek, tithes of the spoils
that he had taken. The book tells us that Levi paid
tithes in the loins of Abraham. Well, Levi wasn't born for a
long, long, long time after that. How did he pay tithes in the
loins of Abraham? He was in his loins. Abraham's seed in him is that
from which Levi sprang hundreds of years later. And you and I
were in Christ, in Christ as he walked on this earth fulfilling
all God's law. And you and I, as surely as Levi
paid tithes in the loins of Abraham, fulfilled God's law in his son
and obeyed him perfectly because he brought in by his obedience
everlasting righteousness. Righteousness that will never
wear out. This is the robe with which God
clothes his people in salvation. This is the garment of God's
salvation given to us in Christ Jesus. Fifth, by his obedience
unto death and his resurrection from the dead, our Lord Jesus
sealed up the vision and the prophecy. Philip said to Nathanael, we
have found him, of whom Moses and the prophets did write. To
him give all the prophets witness, so that everything written from
Genesis 1 to Malachi chapter 4, everything written. Brother
Rupert preached to us last week at the conference on preaching
Christ crucified. Do you know when Paul wrote that?
I'm determined or nothing among you said Jesus Christ to him
crucified Do you know how much scripture he had? Just Genesis
to Malachi Is that this is all about Christ crucified the Lord
Jesus came here and? Sealed up that is he completely
fulfilled everything written in the law and in the prophets
and Everything represented typically, everything represented in the
ceremonies, everything given in the various types and pictures,
every word of prophecy is fulfilled in him who died in our stead
at Calvary. And one more thing. Watch this.
Here's the sixth thing Christ came here to accomplish. Look
at our text again. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, now watch this, and to anoint the most holy. Christ came here to anoint the
most holy. What's he talking about? He came
in to anoint the temple. No, no, that's not what he did. He drove folks out of the temple.
When he got done, he made an end of the temple. As a matter
of fact, this prophecy is about the destruction of the temple.
That's not what it's all about. The temple represented somebody. It represented the church and
people of God. Christ came here not to make
his people holy. Though he did that. That's not
what this prophecy says. It's talking about something
else. He came here to anoint the Most Holy. You have an unction,
an anointing from the Holy One. If any man had not the Spirit
of God, he's none of this. Christ came so that by his obedience
unto death, By his removing the curse for us we might receive
god the spirit the divine comforter who gives us life This is what
the book says Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law
Being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree that the promise of abraham Might come
on us That we might receive the promise of the spirit The lord
jesus came here to anoint the most holy. We who were sanctified
by his blood at Calvary, sanctified by his father in eternal election,
sanctified by his spirit in the new birth as the result of what
he did at Calvary. So that all of those for whom
he lived and suffered and died, for whom he finished the transgression,
made an end of sin, brought in everlasting righteousness for
all those people for whom he did all these things, he comes
and anoints them the most holy ones. Made holy. The most holy
in him. But wait a minute, Brother Don.
I thought he is the most holy. He is. And if I'm his, I'm one
with Him, so that with His spotless garments on, I am as holy as
the Holy One. Rejoice, O my soul! He hath made Him sin for us who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. By these things we know who the
Christ is. He who is the Christ. He who is the Christ who has
come in the flesh. He has finished the transgression. He has made an end of sins. He has made reconciliation for
iniquity. He has brought in everlasting
righteousness. He has fulfilled all the scriptures. And he has made us holy. holy as God himself, for that's
the holiness God requires. Amen.